Again.

Just under two years ago, not long after moving to London with my partner, I started a blog. The Smallest Jen was a way for me to document all of the exciting (and not so exciting) things we were doing in our new city. Every week, at least once, I'd make myself a coffee and knock out a post about where we had been, how I was feeling or what I'd been eating or shopping for. I loved it. But, life happened and priorities shifted; I had decided that I was going to apply to start my teacher training, we sadly lost my Nan on Christmas day 2019, and I started a new job in March. My focus was drawn away from blogging and before I knew it, it had been months since I had even thought about it.

As you may have noticed, this year has been pretty wild (and I don't doubt that next year will be, too). Based on what I have seen on social media, and on other blogs that I follow, the one thing we all have in common as a result of the madness that has been 2020 is that being forced to slow down has done us good. My explorations into minimalism began before we moved to London, when we realised we were downsizing and needed to shed a lot of "stuff". But, one key element of minimalism that I hadn't focussed so much on until recently is the idea of a slower, more intentional life. Of course, I have been more intentional with some of my purchasing (no fast fashion, cruelty free/vegan products only etc) but I was still rushing around trying to do everything all at once. And then the pandemic happened.

Back in April, when I was furloughed for 6 weeks, I took to Instagram to show off all of the "sustainable" activities I was getting up to now that I had all of this time on my hands. Those 6 weeks were so lovely. I missed being able to go out for dinner, see friends and rifle through charity shops, but I achieved so much in that time. And, now that I'm doing my teacher training (seriously, WHAT a time to do it...) I need to slow down more than ever. It's stressful, chaotic, emotionally and mentally draining - totally worth it, but tough. During October half term I fell into a YouTube hole of capsule wardrobe/minimalist life videos, and in all honesty I haven't found my way out of it yet. I've come to realise that watching other people talk about their minimalist lives is self-care to me. I will definitely be posting about my experience as I build my own capsule wardrobe, and you can expect to see vegan food, sustainability content and (of course) some snippets of London life, too.

Hopefully if you've read this far, it's because you're passionate about the same things as I am (or some of them, at least). I am SO excited to start documenting my steps towards a more meaningful, intentional and conscious life and would love to hear your thoughts, tips and tricks as I go.

Jen xo